China News Agency, Changsha, April 16th: Visiting Changsha's "Seed Industry Silicon Valley": See how a seed transforms into a "core"
Author Liu Shuangshuang Fu Yu Guan Ziwen
Seeds are known as the "chips" of agriculture.
In Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, a major agricultural province, a "Silicon Valley of Seed Industry" initiated by the "father of hybrid rice" Yuan Longping during his lifetime is accelerating its construction.
Recently, a reporter from China News Agency visited the Hunan Province Crop Germplasm Resource Bank and Yuelu Mountain Seed Industry Innovation Center located in "Changsha·China Longping Seed Industry Silicon Valley" to learn how Chinese agriculture creates "cores".
In the crop germplasm resource bank of Hunan Province, germplasm resources are "hibernating" in a low temperature environment.
On the rows of storage cabinets standing side by side, round sealed boxes are densely stored.
Inside the box is a seed that looks unremarkable.
As one of the important strategic reserves of resources, these germplasm resources can be kept in the library for more than 50 years and can be "awakened" at any time when needed.
"Each germplasm resource we collect has its own characteristics, and preserving them here can keep them in their original state. When scientific researchers or industrial development need it, we will take it out to explore its advantages and improve its shortcomings. Duan Yonghong, director of the Resource Research Office of the Crop Germplasm Resource Bank of Hunan Province, told reporters.
Diversified germplasm resources are the source of innovation in the seed industry, and contain various potentially usable genes to improve the shortcomings of existing varieties.
Since its official launch in 1992, the Hunan Provincial Crop Germplasm Resource Bank has stored more than 30,000 germplasm resources from 59 countries or regions and 32 provinces in China, covering 56 kinds of crops.
The Yuelu Mountain Seed Industry Innovation Center, one of the dozens of innovation platforms in Changsha's "Silicon Valley of Seed Industry", is not far from the resource bank.
It is jointly constructed by the government, enterprises, parks, universities, etc. It provides technical support for 8 professional research centers such as rice, rapeseed, vegetables, and camellia with the two key common technology platforms of molecular breeding and bio-intelligent big data. Seek breakthroughs in the breeding of varieties.
In the center's molecular breeding laboratory, researchers screen seeds with a high-throughput genotyping system to predict what it will look like in the future and which genes need to be improved.
This more "smarter" breeding technology can speed up the process of traditional breeding and even solve some problems in traditional breeding.
Huang Gang, a researcher in the laboratory, said that they and the team of Academician Yuan Longping have carried out research on the cultivation of resistant materials to rice blast and bacterial blight. According to the traditional method, it takes about 5 to 8 years. However, through molecular marker-assisted breeding technology, the cycle shortened to 2 years and 10 months.
Today, the application of molecular breeding technology has expanded from rice, corn and other major crops to more than 40 species such as vegetables, fruits, Chinese medicinal materials, livestock and poultry, and aquatic products, accelerating the transformation of China's seed industry from traditional breeding to molecular breeding and intelligent breeding. .
To create a "Silicon Valley of Seed Industry" in Changsha is an initiative issued by Academician Yuan Longping in 2013.
In May 2019, the Changsha Municipal Government released the "Changsha·China Longping Seed Industry Silicon Valley Development Plan (2019-2025)", which is positioned to create a major original innovation source of the seed industry, the best ecological demonstration area for the development of the seed industry and a seed industry culture. Exchange display area.
Today, there are nearly 300 upstream and downstream leading enterprises in the biological breeding industry chain, more than 3,900 researchers in the seed industry, and 25 universities and research institutes related to the seed industry and agriculture. It is the largest biological breeding research institute in China and even in the world. In a dense area; the seed industry has made frequent achievements in creating "cores", and the market share of hybrid rice, millet and sunflower seeds is the first in the world; the market share of hybrid corn, pepper and cucumber seeds is the first in China.
According to the plan, during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Changsha's "Silicon Valley of Seed Industry" will strive to create more than 100 new technologies, new genes and new varieties with significant application value. The number of national and provincial innovation platforms will reach 100, and the introduction of seed industry leaders 100 companies.
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